Sanitary napkin



Sept 8 1942- c. A. FouRNEss ,E1-AL 2,294,898

SANITARY NAPKIN Filed Feb. 8, 1939 Patented Sept. A8, 1942 'UNITED STAT-Es PATE SANITARY Narxm Charles A. Fourness,

Appleton, and Edward H.

terna- A-ppucauon February 8, 1939, serial No. 255,277

` n .2' claims. (o1. 12s- 284) which may be made economically and at low cost,

so as to be a commercially practicable structure capable of being sold in competition with less advantageous commercial products. y

In general, it is the object of the` invention to provide an improved sanitary napkin and other objects and advantages oi' the invention will be understood by reference tothe following-specification and accompanying drawing, wherein there is illustrated a sanitary napkin embodying a selected form of the invention and, more or less diagrammatically, the method and means i'or producing a part of the napkin structure.

In the drawing:

Figurel is a perspectiveof theimproved sanitary napkin showing the same partially opened up to reveal its construction;v

Figure 2 is a fragmentary perspective of a web of wrapping material employed in the improved napkin structure, a portion of thel view being shown on an enlargedscale as viewed through a magnifying glass; and

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a method and means for producing the material illustrated in Figure 2.

Referringy now to the` drawing, the improved sanitary napkin stance, an absorbent pad-body 4 which may be of any desirable construction. It may be made, yfor example, of a, plurality of superposed plies of creped tissue paper lhaving their end y.portions suitably compacted to reduce lthe thickness of the end portions of the pad.

'Ihe side edges of the padstructure may be enstructure embodies, in this in-r place on the wearer when supported by having its attachment tabs such as 8 pinned to a sanitary belt or secured to the latter through the agency of buckles or the like. `Hence the wrapper must embody sumcient tensile the napkin.

In the present commercial practice, woven surgical gauze pad but it is relatively hard and harsh, and has a denitel tendency to chafe the wearer.

Some attempts have heretofore been made to overcome the objectionable harshness of gauze by applying layers @of cotton or other suitable brouaushining material to the pad body or in `some cases to one surface of the gauze. In applying cotton to the gauze, it has been the practice to apply loose or. free cotton nbres to the gauze in such a way that the cotton nbres become more -or less lntermingled with the threads of closed in moisture-proof strips 5 and 6, which are folded around said edges as shown, so as to main-- tain the edges of the napkin dry.

A wrapper I is folded longitudinally around the pad body 4 and said wrapper is'long enough to provide tabs such as indicated at 8 which extend endwise beyondthe pad ends and serve as attachment naps.

The wrapper l must be of such character that it will securely hold the absorbent pad body in like ilbrous material is positively attached to an unusually wide or the -gauze and extend tachment thereto.

According to the in the form of a carded web open-mesh gauze so as to combine th`e tensile strength `of `such gauze material with the softness and anti-cha g properties of a. cotton web of predetermined thickness.

The wrapper l as herein contemplated comprises a web o1' woven textile material, preferably very wide or open-mesh gauze 9, which may embody as fewfas eight or ten threads tothe inch in both directions, and a gametted or carded web or. like fibres, of predetermined thickness and-softness, is adhesively secured to the gauze web 9 by means of starch or latex, or other suitable adhesive. 'The gauze and cotton or like nbrous material webs may be assembled by means as typified by that shown in g oFrIcE strength to resist tearing, especially incident to stresses lengthwise of through the interstices present invention, cotton or cotton web I0 are passed to- 2 two webs and suillcient penetration of the gauzecarried adhesive material into the cotton web to effect secure adhesive inter-connection of the two webs.

When the covering material made as abovesdescribed is employed for the purposes of a wrapper on a sanitary napkin, the gauze material is preferably placed on the inside so that the cotton web will form the exterior surface of the napkin. the thickness of the cotton web should be adequate, of course, to provide the dsired cushioning and anti-chaiing effect. The cotton web will woven gauze. Also, it will be apparent that if necessarily have a substantialbulk or body which will extend into the attachment tabs such as so that the latter, instead of being mere ilimsy gauze tabs, will also have a desirable body which facilitates attachment either by pinning or by means of clips or buckles to a sanitary belt, and further, prevents Stringing or gathering and hence aids in maintaining the pad end portions in flat condition in which they may be maintained in inconspicuous, flatwise, body-hugging condition.

Owing to the inherent tendency of cotton fibres to attach themselves to woven material such as gauze and to other cotton fibres, the overlapping marginal portions of the Figure 1 will attach themselves to each other much more securely than is the case with plain gauze wrappers. Hence when the napkin is constructed as herein described, thewidth of the overlapping margins of the wrapper may be considerably narrower than when plain gauze is employed, without sacricing any of the security of the pad within the wrapper. Accordingly, a narrow web of wrapper material may be employed with consequent saving in gauze. Furthermore, the cost of the improved wrapper material can probably be maintained at about the same cost for ordinarygauze which could be used for wrapping purposes with equal effectiveness, excepting, of course; the comfort characteristics peculiarly advantageous to'the improved material. 'I'he low cost of the improved material results from the. possibility of employing a very wide or openmesh gauze and a narrower width thereof as compared with the much closer weave and wider surgical gauze required for present conventional napkin structures.

' It will be apparentthat instead of employing woven gauze, threads may be employed, some extending lengthwise and some crosswise of the wrapper material, such threads imparting their tensile strength to thecotton web to effect the same strengthening of the cotton as does the Wrapper as indicated in preferred, cotton webs may be applied to both sides of the reinforcing'gauze web and that other changes may be made in the described structure of the cotton web, it being preferable, however, that the cotton web be of such character that it has at least some degree of self-sustaining ability. Instead of a carded or garnetted web, the web could be formed by blowing loose bres in'a screen to form the desired web. Fibres so formed into a web are arranged haphazardly and become more or less interlocked so as to form a web of satisfactory character.

Other changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the same being constructed as broadly as possible, consistent with the state of the art.

I claim:

1. A sanitary napkin comprising an absorbent pad and a wrapper therefor, said wrapper comprising a nlm or web of soft, iibrous material characterized by a lack of substantial tensile strength, said wrapper including a portion extended beyond an end of the pad and constituting a tab adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment of the tab to a belt.or

other supporting medium, anda multiplicity of threads some extending transversely of others, secured to said film on the inside thereof foi reinforcing the same to enable said film to withstand the forces tending to break the film when the napkin is supported through the agency of said extended portions thereof.

2. A sanitary napkin comprising an absorbent pad and a wrapper therefor, said wrapper comprising a. film or web of soit, fibrous material characterized by a-lack of substantial tensile strength, said wrapper including a portion extended beyond an end of the pad and constituting a tab adapted to be used for supporting the napkin by attachment of the tab to a belt or other supporting medium, and a multiplicity of threads, some extending transversely of others and having adhesive material applied thereto and thereby secured to said film on the inside thereof, said threads serving to reinforce said film to enable the iilm to withstand the forces tending to break the film when the napkin is supported through the agency of said extended portions thereof.

f CHARLES A. FOURNESS.

EDWARD H. VOIGTMAN. 

